


Who's Scared of the Big Bad Storm?

by Capucine



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Human, Gen, Hijabi, Muslim Character, Roommates, vitiligo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-01
Updated: 2015-08-01
Packaged: 2018-04-12 09:01:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4473308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Capucine/pseuds/Capucine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lapis Lazuli finds she may have a lot on her hands with her new roommates.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Who's Scared of the Big Bad Storm?

**Author's Note:**

> I rather like the interpretation of the three as a black girl with vitiligo, a Muslim hijabi, and an East Asian girl. I was thinking that Lapis is Chinese(-American) in this one. Hope you like it!

_Crack! Boom!_

The whimper afterwards was not a sound that Lapis Lazuli had expected. As a water lover (swimmer, beach-lover, and bathtub enthusiast), she quite welcomed thunder storms. It had not occurred to her that one of her three roommates would feel any different.

“Hey, uh, Jasper, is that you? I know the power went out, but it’s really nothing to freak out about...” Lapis groped about in the dark, looking for the source of the sound.

Then her hand landed on her flashlight, and she flicked it on.

Another crash of thunder, and more muted sound of distress, as if the roommate was trying not to be found. Lapis shined the flashlight towards it, and lo and behold, it was Peridot, greasy-looking blackish-brown hair over her eyes as she curled under the bed.

She was still wearing her long-sleeved shirt and maxi skirt from earlier that day (the parents had been to visit). Not surprisingly, she was not wearing her hijab at the moment.

“Peri?” Lapis asked, falling down on her hands and knees next to the bed. “Hey. Uh, are you okay?”

“We’re so high up,” Peridot said, “We’re like a lightning rod! And oh, what if there’s a tornado?!”

“No warnings for a tornado yet, I think,” Lapis tried to soothe her roommate, putting a hand on the side of her brown face. The more yellow tone of Lapis’s skin seemed to almost glow in the dark.

Peridot whimpered again, and curled tighter.

Lapis stumbled about the room, and found a radio. Thank god that her mom had insisted she had an old-fashioned radio. She turned it on and tuned the dial, and the weather was being repeated as ‘severe thunderstorm warning, severe thunderstorm warning’. She brought the radio with her as she laid back down next to Peridot.

“See? No tornadoes.” She felt like she wasn’t doing enough to help, but she was doing the best she could, damnit.

Lightning illuminated the room briefly, and Peridot was nearly crying with fear.

Lapis had to do something. So, she put down the flashlight and the radio, and came up as close to Peridot as she could. She started to wrap her arms around her, when Peridot said,

“I-I barely know you, what kind of clod--?!”

“Let me do this for you,” Lapis said gently. She was good at reading body language, and her intuition was telling her that what Peridot needed was a firm hold. So, she started to wrap her arms around her again. When Peridot did not resist, she held her tightly close to her.

Peridot’s prosthetics clacked against the plastic beading on the back of Lapis’s tank top, as, much to Lapis’s surprise, she wrapped them around her back. She also pressed her head under Lapis’s chin.

She smelled like lime body spray.

And Doritos, strangely enough.

“It’s okay,” Lapis said softly, “It’s going to be all right.”

They stayed there for what felt like an hour, when the lights blinked back on and the storm sounded distant.

Before they could detach, if Peridot wanted to, Lapis wasn’t entirely sure she did, the door slammed open. The sound of crunching alerted Lapis immediately to who it was, of course.

“God, we’re here for like a week and you’re already lesbians?” Jasper, a dark-skinned girl with stark white splashes across her body (vitiligo, Lapis seemed to recall), stood there eating cheeto puffs out of a bag.

That was when Peridot detached, blushing and snapping, “I was just-just really concerned about my equipment! You know what a storm like this could do to it?!"

Jasper cackled. “At least put a sock on the door next time.”

“Jasper! We are not a couple, that’s not funny!” Peridot shouted back.

As the two got into an argument, Lapis sighed.

This would be an interesting Freshman year.


End file.
